


Bat Family Timeline & Background Info

by milesrunner777



Series: Family is a Three-Ring Circus [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days, Teen Titans - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 17:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21359854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milesrunner777/pseuds/milesrunner777
Summary: As the title states, this establishes the functional timeline for the series.
Series: Family is a Three-Ring Circus [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539823
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	1. The Timeline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EoB: Era of the Bat

**EoB Year -16** : Thomas and Martha Wayne are killed by Joe Chill in front of an 8-year old Bruce Wayne. Alfred Pennyworth, age 34, is a former member of the British SAS and MI6 who recently had succeeded his father, Jarvis Pennyworth as the butler for the Wayne family. He assumes custody of Bruce Wayne.

**EoB Year -6** : Bruce Wayne, age 18, begins his travels around the world to learn how to defend Gotham. Along the way, he becomes fluent in several different languages, and earns PhD’s, or equivalent in a multitude of disciplines.

**EoB Year -1** : Ra’s al Ghul offers Bruce Wayne the coveted position of “Hand of the Demon”. Bruce refuses, leading to a cat-and-mouse game played across the Middle East and Europe. Talia al Ghul, lover of Bruce Wayne, is torn between her love for Bruce and her loyalty to her father. Eventually, Ra’s decides to cut his losses and declares a truce with Bruce, granting him the title of “The Detective”.

**EoB Year 0** : Bruce Wayne, age 24, returns to Gotham, and begins his war on crime in Gotham. He also takes his rightful place as CEO of Wayne Enterprises. The crime rate in Gotham begins to slightly decrease, due to the urban legend known as “The Batman”. 

However, bigger threats begin to form. DA Harvey Dent, darling of the Gotham media, is accidentally caught in the crossfire of a skirmish between two gangs that escalates upon the arrival of Batman and the GCPD. As a result, he is left with severe burns that permanently disfigures half of his face. 

Not long after, Batman interrupts a robbery of First Gotham Bank by the Red Hood Gang. Batman corners a member of the gang at Ace Chemical. The gang member loses his balance, and falls into a vat of toxic chemicals that bleach his skin, and dyes his hair green. This unidentified criminal suffered from minor schizophrenia prior to this accident, but his submergence in the vat exacerbated his mental health issues. As Batman looks on in horror, the criminal begins to laugh, as if he just heard the punchline of the world’s best joke. He doesn’t stop.

**EoB 1** : Bruce takes in the orphaned Dick Grayson after his parents fall to their deaths. Bruce helps Dick bring in Tony Zucco, the man who sabotaged the Graysons’ trapeze. Dick receives training from Bruce to join him in crime fighting. When Dick joins Batman on his patrols, Batman is no longer an urban legend, but becomes a reality that all criminals in Gotham must be wary of.

While Lt. Jim Gordon is shocked at first by the fact that a) Batman is very real, and b) he has a kid working with him, he notices the love and trust that bond the two together, as well as the overwhelming protectiveness Batman displays towards the young vigilante. That, paired with the real effect Batman has had on crime, allow him to obey his gut feeling and trust the Batman. After the first few encounters, Gordon asks the young crimefighter what he should call him. Dick, reminded of his parents by the kind cop, replies with a name his mother used to call him: “Robin”.

Edward Nygma gets bored of his job doing rigged mind games at carnivals and decides to oppose the Batman in a deadly game of riddles.

Selina Kyle has been robbing the rich and giving to the poor long before Batman shows up, but it becomes a game with his appearance: She robs someone, he catches her, she flirts with him and escapes while he’s too flustered to react. She likes this new routine, and often catches herself wondering if the man under the mask likes cats.

**EoB Year 2** : Oswald Cobblepot, known in the Gotham underworld as “the Penguin” due to his odd appearance, decides to open the Iceberg Lounge as a front for his organized crime activities. It becomes a big hit, and Cobblepot gains prestige in the underworld. However, it also draws the attention of Batman, leading to collision course.

Pamela Isley, PhD candidate in botany at Gotham University, is injected with various poisons and toxins as an experiment. After several near-death experiences due to the foreign bodies in her bloodstream, she suffers from violent mood swings and obsessive behavior. After her hospital stay, she finds that she is able to manipulate plant life and secrete various plant-based toxins and pheromones. Her singular goal is to eradicate all threats to plant life.

Arkham Manor, sitting on a private island in Gotham Harbor, is repurposed into an asylum for villains deemed too dangerous for Blackgate Prison.

**EoB Year 3** : Dr. Harleen Quinzel, fresh out of school as a psychologist, is hired by Arkham Asylum to work with the Joker. Over the course of months, Joker slowly seduces Dr. Quinzel while chipping away at her sanity. She eventually agrees to break him out of the Asylum, and quits her job to follow him around and assist in his criminal activity.

The Justice League is established in response to a global crisis. Founding members are Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Flash. Dick fanboys over Clark Kent/Superman.

**EoB Year 4** : When Talia is in Gotham hunting down a member of the Untitled, she and Bruce briefly rekindle their romance. Damian is conceived & kept a secret from Bruce after she returns to her father’s side.

**EoB Year 5** : Barbara Gordon, age 14, begins her crime fighting career, after disrupting a kidnapping attempt on her way to a Halloween party while dressed up as a female Batman. She catches the attention of Batman, and as she continues to intervene in small-scale crimes, Batman offers her assistance and training. Shortly after meeting Dick Grayson, Barbara and Dick begin to date.

**EoB Year 6** : In response to a growing number of proteges to superheroes, the Teen Titans are established to associate with heroes their own age, and occasionally combat small-scale crime. Founding members are Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), Cyborg (Victor Stone), Raven (Rachel Roth), Beast Boy (Garfield Logan), and Wonder Girl (Donna Troy). 

Catherine Todd dies, Jason Todd becomes a street kid at age 10.

**EoB Year 7** : Jonathan Crane, professor of psychology at Gotham University, specializes in phobias. He is working on an experimental drug to help people overcome their fears by facing them, when it aerosolizes, and he breathes in his entire supply. Dr. Crane goes insane, and re-makes the formula to use on all of Gotham. 

Bane escapes Pena Duro prison on Santa Prisca. He hears stories of the Batman is Gotham, and decides that this Batman must be the figure who has been haunting his dreams for years. He goes to Gotham to face his nightmare.

**EoB Year 8** : Dick becomes estranged from Bruce, as he feels he has “outgrown” the mantle of Robin, and wants to move out from Batman’s shadow. He moves to Bludhaven and becomes Nightwing. Dick impregnates Koriand’r after Titans mission that was emotionally charged. 

Jason Todd, age 12, is found by Bruce when he is jacking the tires off the Batmobile. He is taken in by Bruce and begins Robin training.

**EoB Year 9** : Jason Todd becomes Robin and has a rocky relationship with Dick, who can’t believe that Bruce would give away his mantle so easily. Jason is dragged into the middle of a lot of fights between Bruce and Dick. In the meanwhile, he bonds with Alfred, who enjoys teaching Jason how to cook.

**EoB Year 10** : Jason and Dick somewhat heal their relationship. Jason becomes member of Teen Titans as Robin. He also meets the Justice League, and gets to meet his favorite superhero, Wonder Woman, with whom he becomes very close. Bruce formally adopts Jason. Tim Drake, age 12, begins stalking Batman and Robin

**EoB Year 11** : Tim figures out the civilian identities of Batman and Robin. 

Jason is witness to the death of Felipe Garzonas, which causes strain in relationships with both Bruce and Dick, as both are unsure whether or not Jason pushed Garzonas off the balcony from which he fell. 

After he is benched from going out as Robin, Jason discovers the existence of Sheila Haywood who may be his biological mother. He goes to Ethiopia, and is killed by the Joker after being betrayed by Sheila. 

Tim Drake notices Batman’s violent behavior after Jason’s death, and confronts Bruce about how Batman needs a Robin. He is unsuccessful in his efforts to bring Dick back to Gotham, and decides to take the mantle for himself.

**EoB Year 12** : Tim becomes Robin after months of intense training. Jason digs his way out of his grave the same night Barbara is paralyzed by the Joker. 

After months in a vegetative state, Talia al Ghul puts Jason into a Lazarus pit. Jason discovers Joker is still alive and that he was replaced as Robin. Jason begins training with the League of Assassins to confront Batman. 

Stephanie Brown, age 14, becomes Spoiler to spoil her father’s criminal activities. 

Kate Kane, age 27, cousin of Bruce Wayne, becomes Batwoman.

**EoB Year 13** : Jack Drake uncovers evidence of the identities of Batman and Robin. He moves Tim to Central City. 

Steph begins her ill-fated few months as Robin which end with her torture and “death” at the hands of Black Mask. Jack Drake falls into a coma, Tim moves back to Gotham, retakes his mantle as Robin. 

Jason returns to Gotham and establishes himself as the Red Hood, a crime lord.

**EoB Year 14** : Jason confronts Batman and the Joker. The confrontation ends with Batman lodging a batarang in Jason’s gun as he is pulling the trigger, causing it to backfire. The detonator for the bombs Jason placed inside the walls falls out of his pocket and is seized by the Joker, who presses the button. Batman digs out the Joker and takes him back to Arkham. Jason is dug out by Talia and her agents, and is taken to Nanda Parbat to recover from his injuries. He meets Damian, who is impressed by Jason when he sees him sparring against Lady Shiva, and holding his own, at the end of his recovery. Talia takes Jason to train with Ducra at the Acres of All, then takes Damian to Gotham-- Ra’s is slowly losing sanity, and doesn’t want either of her sons there for the fallout. 

After Bruce helps Cassandra Cain defeat her father, David Cain, she expresses a desire to stay with him, as he has been more of a father than David ever was. Cass becomes Batgirl.

**EoB Year 15** : Jason forms the Outlaws with Roy Harper and Koriand’r. 

Bruce “dies”, but is actually lost in time. Dick becomes Batman, and makes Damian his Robin. 

Tim moves out of Wayne Manor, and becomes co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises with Lucius Fox in Bruce’s absence. 

Stephanie returns to Gotham, and is gifted the Batgirl mantle by Cass, who becomes Black Bat. 

Jason and Tim form a tentative bond. 

Barbara undergoes an experimental surgery to give her the use of her legs again. It works, and she begins physical therapy. 

Bruce is recovered from the timestream, and decides to keep Damian as Robin. 

Amanda Waller acquires Bruce’s DNA, the basis of Terry McGinnis.

**EoB Year 16** : Barbara is deemed field-ready, Steph gives Batgirl back to her. 

Dick “dies” for a few months to infiltrate Spyral. 

Jason begins spending more time in Gotham. He becomes Roy and Kori’s go-to babysitters, and meets Mar’i Grayson. 

**EoB Year 17** : Tim kidnapped by Joker. Joker paralyzed by Tim. Jason and Tim forge a strong bond while dealing with the fallout, and Jason reconnects with the Batfamily.

  
  


**EoB Year 18** : Bruce proposes to Selina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left EoB in place so people can play around with time in their heads, but I find it easy to set EoB Year 0 as 2000, and go from there.
> 
> Events in EoB Year 17 are credited to CloakedSparrow's fantastic work, "Last Laughs, First Steps". Go read it, I promise you won't regret it.


	2. Character Ages as of EoB Year 18

Bruce: 43

Alfred: 68

Dick: 28

Barbara: 27

Jason: 23

Tim: 21

Steph: 21

Kate: 33

Cass: 23

Damian: 14

Selina: 38

Com. Gordon: 62

Donna Troy: 25

Roy Harper: 27

Lian Harper: 12

Mar’i Grayson: 11

Conner Kent: 22

Jon Kent: 13

Clark Kent: 40 (in Earth years)

Talia al Ghul: looks 30, is actually like 300

Diana Prince: looks 30, is actually like 3000


	3. Romantic Relationships

Bruce and Selina (past & present)

Bruce and Talia (past)

Bruce and Diana (past)

Kate and Renee (present)

Dick and Barbara (past & present)

Dick and Kori (past)

Jason and Donna (pre-death & present)

Jason and Talia (past)

Jason and Rose (past)

Jason and Kori and Roy (past)

Jason and Barbara (past)

Tim and Steph (past & future)

Tim and Conner and Cassie (past) 

Damian and Lian (future)

\--------------------

A few explanations on the pairings:

Look, I’ve always been big on the WonderBat pairing, especially after watching the DC movies, then re-watching the Justice League animated series. But, there were a couple factors that prevented me from having them be a current pairing in my universe. First, I really like Selina’s redemption arc from burglar to reluctant hero, and I wanted to put that into my story. But for that to work, I needed Bruce and Selina to be in a long-term romantic relationship, I wouldn’t know how to make that happen otherwise. 

But I couldn’t just leave out WonderBat, and I realized that the perfect place for the pairing would be at the end of Jason’s time as Robin. Jason thinks of Diana as a mother, and they accordingly spend a lot of time together, meaning Bruce and Diana spend a lot of time together too. They then become romantically involved, and all is well until Jason dies. In his grief, Bruce pushes everyone away, including Diana. Because of this, their relationship falls apart. They eventually reconcile, but they agree to remain close friends rather than romantic partners.

\--------------------

The impression that I get from DickBabs is that they keep on spinning around each other, taking turns having their heads stuck too far up their asses to realize they’re screwing up the relationship (Dick does this way more, but Barbara has her moments). I think that they eventually figure out how best to communicate, and they have a super-strong bond due to everything they’ve gone through as a couple. 

I did need to stick in some DickKori though, because in my little world, they break up early in Kori’s pregnancy, so she has full custody of Mar’i. She does tell Dick that they have a daughter shortly after the birth, and he gets to see her, but Kori decides to take Mar’i to Tamaran to grow up there (Kori and her sister resolve their issues much earlier than they do in the comics). While with the Outlaws, Kori and Roy decides to introduce Mar’i and Lian to each other and have Mar’i meet “Uncle Jaybird”. The fact that Jason has a better relationship with Mar’i than Dick does… it will cause some tension.

\--------------------

Jason’s relationship with Donna reflects his desire for strong women. Their relationship had a rocky start, because when Jason was inducted into the Titans, he was suddenly surrounded by strong and attractive women, with no real role models for how to comport himself. He had strong feelings for Donna, especially since they spent a lot of time together, given both of them have close relationships with Diana. 

However, Kara is attracted to Jason, and is not afraid to act on her feelings. Jason can’t quite bring himself to tell her no (strong women are his weakness), until one day, when Dick (of all people, the nerve!) tells him that he’s really hurting Donna with the indecisiveness he’s displaying. Jason talks with Donna, confirming her feeling for him. The next time he sees Kara, he explains that he has feelings for Donna and to please stop making out with him. She takes it surprisingly well, and their relationship becomes cordial. Meanwhile, Jason kisses Donna under the mistletoe at Christmas, and goes on a date with her for Valentine’s Day. After that, hero stuff gets in the way, but they both clear their calendars for the first week of May. Of course, Jason dies in April. 

After his resurrection, he’s too busy planning his revenge to worry about romance, until Talia kisses him, and pulls him into bed, because they both need it, even if neither of them would ever admit it. For the next year or so, they act as each other’s booty calls, so to speak. Around the time of the confrontation, their relationship dynamic changes to more of a mother-son bond, because that’s what they both need now. Also, Talia regains custody of Damian from Ra’s, rekindling her maternal instincts. 

When Jason is working with the All-Caste, he occasionally runs into Rose Wilson. Their accidental meetings often end up with them in bed together, but it never grows too serious: at the time, both of them had a severe lack of trust needed for that type of relationship. 

After Jason finds Kori and Roy and they form the Outlaws, Kori and Roy occasionally force Jason to join them in bed, as a more physical sign of their affection for him, something both Kori and Roy recognize that he’s lacking. 

During the Commissioner Bard shitshow in Gotham, Jason and Barbara become romantically involved. Barbara has been going through some stuff: Dick has just revealed he’s not in fact dead, she’s still trying to get used to being Batgirl again, Bruce is off-world and out of communication (convenient, so he doesn’t have to deal with the backlash of Dick’s reveal), and her dad’s been wrongfully imprisoned by Bard. So when Jason comes in and helps her out with getting everything sorted out, she is extremely grateful that he’s there for her when nobody else is. Jason never stopped flirting with Barbara, even when he was dating Donna- by that point, it had become instinctual and routine. But yeah, he’s always thought that she’s beautiful and amazing (strong women, am I right?). So when she starts getting closer to him, he decides to just go for it and kiss her. To his surprise, she actually pulls him closer and deepens the kiss rather than pushing away. Over the next month, their lives become kick ass, fight crime, and make out on rooftops. After they give the evidence that Jim Gordon is innocent to cops they (or at least Barbara) trust, Jason sits Barbara down and lays out the facts: he’s nowhere near mentally healthy enough to stay in Gotham full-time, their schedules are too hectic and unstable to seriously consider a long-distance relationship, and she’s not going to stay mad at Dick forever, and she and Dick are seriously meant to be. After debating the finer points of those statements, Jason and Barbara decide to end their fling and return to being close friends. 

Two weeks later, the Outlaws are taking on a crime syndicate in Brooklyn when Donna Troy joins the fight. The two of them quickly rekindle their relationship (read: they have dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, then go back to Donna’s loft and have sex).

\--------------------

Tim and Steph are another case where a Batboy can’t get his head out of his ass in time to realize that he’s letting one of the best things in his life to slip away- much to Jason’s amusement (“I didn’t let Donna slip away, I  _ died _ , asshole.”). However, they both needed time to mature. 

Tim had a thing with Conner Kent and Cassie Sandsmark, but he was never really invested in making it work, remaining focused on his job at Wayne Enterprises and his work as Red Robin. 

Watching Steph do a great job as Batgirl, then easily transition back to being Spoiler finally made Tim realize that he fucked up a great thing in his life, and he starts pining for Steph, but he is too afraid to say anything. Meanwhile, Steph is unsure of the situation- she still has feelings for Tim (especially after he bulked up a bit when he started working with Jason), but she doesn’t want to get hurt again. She’s too scared to mention anything related to romance to Tim also. Luckily, Jason knows both sides of the story, and is plotting with his book club (Alfred and Diana) to get the two of them back together.

I would like to take a minute and acknowledge that yes, Stephanie Brown, in the comics, is a teen mom. However, I’m not going to include that in these works, because it would be incongruent with events that are mentioned in the time-travel fic (which is rapidly becoming the culmination of my efforts for this series).

\--------------------

I was unsure who I wanted to set Damian up with- Mar’i or Lian. Although Demonfire (Damian and Mar’i) is technically canon, I decided to pair him with Lian. I really like the idea of Jason being the only member of the Batfamily that’s in an involved romantic relationship with a meta/non-human (because of his time in the Lazarus pit, once he reaches his physical peak, he will age much slower than a normal human, and may be immortal unless acted upon by outside forces), so that went into the decision. 

Also, the idea of Jason being super-protective of Lian makes my day. Of course, Damian will be the last member of his family (besides Bruce, of course) to realize that he’s totally crushing on BAMF Lian Harper. Cue Jason and Roy being ridiculously overprotective of their little baby badass.

(BTW, nothing will happen between Damian and Lian-- outside of my time-travel work-- until EoB Year 20) 


	4. A List of Things That WILL NOT HAPPEN in This Series

Bruce slitting Jason’s throat with a Batarang: No. Just no. This implies Bruce is willing to kill Jason to force Jason not to kill. What? I’m going to use the “Under the Red Hood” movie depiction of events rather than the comics. Much cleaner, and is less likely to make the average person cut off all contact with the person involved.

Bruce and Dick putting Jason in Arkham: Again, just no. I have no idea how comic Jason ever reconciles with his family after everything they put him through. Also, in this series, Jason doesn’t come back to Gotham until he’s with the Outlaws and he’s kind of mellowed out.

Damian dying: This has multiple reasons- the most simple being the timeline doesn’t have the space for it. The timeline post-Confrontation is somewhat crowded, and there’s never really a “good” time for it. On a deeper level, the events surrounding his death would be inconsistent with the images of Bruce and Talia I’m building. Both of them are good parents, or at least try to be. Ergo, Talia wouldn’t indirectly kill her son, and Bruce wouldn’t force Tim to dissect Frankenstein and Jason to revisit the Magdala Valley. Again, this would be something that a rational person, let alone a person with Jason’s level of insecurity and mental health struggles, would see as a sign to cease all communication with the person that does the things that Bruce does to Jason.

Carrie Kelly as Robin: I haven’t read the comic, but in the movie “Dark Knight Returns”, I really didn’t like her. Also, by the time Damian feels that he’s outgrown the need to be Robin, Bruce has been doing the parent thing for over 20 years. He is a good parent. All of his kids are still around, and most of them are still helping out. By the time they start to retire, the next generation is starting to come of an age where they can help.


End file.
